What if
by FishFlapper
Summary: What if... What if instead of Prim being picked to go into the arena it was Rory? As guessed Gale volunteers to take his place.. And what a surprise it would be if Madge Undersee was chosen instead of katniss. what would happened if the roles were reversed as katniss watches with Peeta the star-crossed lovers of district twelve, Gale Hawthorne and Madge Undersee!
1. A Dream

**What if it was the boy with the bow?**

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**Intro;What if instead of Prim, Rory Hawthorne is chosen for the hunger games and gale takes his place? And Madge gets chosen as well? What will Katniss do? Who will comfort her in this confusing time... told from katniss' point of view**.

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Hello, This is my first ever fanfiction however i do do allot of writing (even though i am not the best with English) I hope you enjoy this fanfiction and will stick with me through Katniss' journey. The story is told from katniss' point of view however if your lucky i may do the odd Gale, Madge or Peeta pov.

~Ms fish

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Chapter 1

A Dream.

I woke up for the second time this morning to my sisters terrified screams. I was having nightmares as well but not a horrific as my poor prim. Her sleep has been restless all week, I often find myself waking up to her shaking and shivering or screaming out in fear of the horrors that lurk in her dreams. No wonder my innocent little prim is feeling this way, it's her first reaping. Even though her name is only in the reaping's once this year she is still paranoid she is going to be the one chosen to go off to one of the horrible arenas... I know I should be telling her that she isn't going to be chosen, there are hundreds even thousands of names in those perfect glass bowls but still I have a nagging worry of what if she is chosen... Seeing my normally happy talkative sister like this nearly brings myself to tears, it's not fair that at only 12 she has to worry about being chosen to go fight to the death for peoples entertainment.

It's just another contraption set up by the capitol to strike fear into the districts. How could those 'to-rich-for-they're-own-good' people of in the capitol enjoy the horrifying thing that happens in the arenas? Maybe it's what they're brought up with so they just get used to it after a while? Maybe if I grew up there I would be waiting eagerly for the hunger games to start every September... No... I won't think about it like that... the capitol people are just monsters in fancy dress.

Remembering Prims screams I crawled over to her side of the bed to comfort her. Once I laid my hand upon her shoulder her screaming ceased, slowly she clambered into my arms eyes tightly shut, with tiny tears creepy out from under her eyelashes. Fearful of opening her eyes to the new horrors today may bring, wishing that somehow today could just blow away and the Reapings might never come... After lots of soothing words she slowly started to open her eyes, she had stopped crying now but you could still she the salty tear stains on her delicate cheeks and her pink puffy eyes. I ran my hands over her cheeks to brush away the tears and gave her a reassuring smile. She gave me a small smile, even when she's in this state her smiles always seemed to make my day seem a lot more hopeful even if that day is the reaping's... I lent down to kiss her cheek and asked her if she wanted to talk about it she slowly shook her head with tears starting to well in her eyes again.

I would do anything to rid her of this horror that is looming over her and I guess that my singing was the thing that would make everything better. As after she shook her head she crawled closer to me and up to my ear to ask if I could sing to her. I never sing... well, since the accident.. Prim is my only exception to this rule. I nodded my head and answered with a small yes, I decide to sing a song which was one of Prims favorites One my father taught me when I was a little girl out by our lake. When he sang all the birds stopped to listen he...was a beautiful singer.

'Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow'

After the first to lines Prim started to sing along with me in a small shaky voice.

'L-Lay down your head, a-and c-close your sleepy eyes

And w-when you wake, the sun w-will ri-ise'

After the first verse of the song I stopped, seeing the sun beginning to rise I was already late meeting gale but I couldn't have left her in the state she was in. 'See you know the words, now sing them if you are scared and know I will be coming to save you' She nodded her head and I got out of bed to get ready to leave.

I brushed my hair with our old weathered brush, bristles sticking out at awkward angles scraped against my scalp, I didn't mind...you get used to it after a while. While I was pulling on my boots I saw that prim was just getting out of bed, her eyes still slightly pink from her weeping. 'Where are you going?' she asked in her small voice, 'out' I replied she knew what this meant by now... once my boots where on, I started towards the kitchen to leave however prim said quietly 'there's cheese on the table'. Little prim always looking out for anyone and everyone, some of Prims goats' cheese was a small delicacy to our family and it was a gift for her to give it to me than to go sell it in the square. I nodded my head towards her in thanks, she knew I was in a rush and expected no more.

As I went into the kitchen I saw and upturned tin which was most probably hiding the cheese from any pests like bugs, rats and even buttercup. As I think those words I hear a small hiss over by the fireplace. Who other should it be? The mangy old cat, with moldy yellow, flee-ridden fur that Prim thought was the colour of buttercups, always her to pick out the best in life. That cat and I had as much companionship as oil and water. It probably still hates me from when I tried to drown it when prim first brought him home... Well, I didn't want another mouth to feed. Luckily that cat only comes home for prim and goes around stealing scraps from bins and ditches, disgusting thing.

I pretended to kick the vermin and it jumped out of its position and ran over to the window, hissed and then jumped out. Don't come back, I thought. Seeing the sun outside the window I grabbed the cheese from under the tin and made my way towards the meadow. I took my usual path through the winding alleys of the seam houses. Towards the meadow, the meadow may be the only thing nice thing in our district. The meadow was near the edge of our district full of wild flowers and bug life. It would be perfect if there wasn't a large metal fence 'supposedly' electrified 24 hours a day stood to block things from coming in and more importantly us getting out, we were trapped... if you didn't know how to get out. I went over to a familiar weak spot in the fence and lifted up a small section of wire, shimmied under and ran over towards the edge of the woods...


	2. Our Place

Chapter 2.

Our Place.

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_'I went over to a familiar weak spot in the fence and lifted up a small section of wire, shimmied under and ran over towards the edge of the woods'_

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Once I got down to the edge of the woods I stooped down into brush and looked back unto the mess we call district 12. It seems as though no-one saw me leave the district, not that anyone cares even the peace keepers need decent food, but its reaping day everyone one is on their guard, you have to be extra vigilant. After a further 5 minutes scoping out the fence I decide that I passed into the woods unseen.

I will go collect my bow on the way to our meeting spot; I was late enough as it is. I went to one of the places I store my bows, an old rotten log. I then went further down our path to fetch my arrows. Well, a path to us, the normal peace keeper or person would have to inspect the area thoroughly to see that there was a 'trodden-down-plant' path headed deeper into the woods, but even then they would have to inspect the ground carefully to see that these tracks were not made by animals. Sometimes after there have been heavy rains even I had to look at the ground to see the path, usually though my legs guided me where to go as I have walked this root many times. I fetch my arrows from a small hole under a rather large berry bush.

I will take the quick root to out meeting spot and shoot any animals that come into view on the way. It only takes a 15 minute walk to where gale should be from where I stand. Along the way I manage to get 2 squirrels and a young turkey that was walking only a metre away from me, and I was even trying to be quiet, they are silly things. I guess the odds are in my favour today... I come into a small clearing I then turn and walk around a large thistle bush and sure enough, there he is waiting by the rocks that we have used to meet by for god knows how long...

I'm guessing he heard me as he raises his head from the small blackberry bush he was picking at and gives me a big cheesy grin. Gale is quite ridiculous in this way, 'Hey Catnip thought you weren't going to show for a minute' I smile back, Gale is one of the few people other than prim that can make me feel this way. Gale is like a brother to me however sometimes I wonder if we didn't live here and we didn't have the prospect of the hunger games and starvation that we may have been slightly more than that...? I must have been thinking for slightly longer than I should have as I have stopped mid-stride and gales giving me a funny toothy smile... yup its official he's mad.

'Going to say why you're so late then?' He says stilling smiling at the face I must have been pulling while thinking. I give him a short one word answer 'Prim'. He then gives me a questioning look and cocks his head to one side nearly making me burst out in laughter, And again 'Nightmares'. He nods, maybe Rory was the same? Rory was Gale's younger brother; he was the same age as prim and is having his first reaping today as well. I start to wonder of how Rory must have acted this morning.

He's not as strong or as large as his 18 year old brother and much less able to cope with the hardships of survival as gale and I when our fathers died... I was slightly better off with only 3 mouths to feed. Gale however was the oldest of his siblings with no father and his mother needing to feed four other hungry mouths.

Eventually I come over and sit by Gale. This is another of the few moments I feel perfectly calm, here in the woods with Gale. We can tell each other's feelings just by looking at each other, we always help each other out and I can tell him anything and everything without fear.

I remember about the cheese and go to reach into my games bag, he gives me another question look. 'Prim left us some cheese' I say while pulling out the goat's cheese wrapped in basil leaves. 'Thank yo**ouu **prim!' Gale nearly shouts...he's not mad, he's crazed. At that little 'preach to the heavens' I allow myself to laugh. The Gale reaches into his bag as well, so I give the same look and cock my head to the side like he did earlier. A gigantic toothy grin spreads across his face and taps his nose, while he is un-prepared I take the chance to grab his bag and run over to the other side of the rocks we were leaning against. Gale is still sitting there with a dumbstruck face on, at that a small laugh escapes my lips which makes him smile back.

When I open the bag I am astounded by what I see not one but **two PROPER!** Bakery bread rolls! Not the horrible bread we make with our tessarae grain. I look at him with large eyes, which must have looked ridiculous to him as he rolls onto his back laughing. 'Bu- h- how did you get these!?' I nearly shout with excitement, we barely ever get **good **bread rolls!. 'The baker gave me 3 rolls for a squirrel' I give him another dumfounded look and he bursts in to hysteric laughter again. 'M-must be fe-feeling extra gener-rous today' he barely managed to say as he was still in his fit of laughter. I give him a mock-disappointed face and he nearly starts laughing again until I give him my 'deadly' glare, he puts his hand up as if to surrender.

I come back over to him and him my hand to help him up. He refuses though and puts on his 'sexy' pose, one hand under his head and the other resting on his hip. I nearly burst out into my own fit of laughter, but all he does is give me a blank face and says 'you know you can't resist me' and gives me and over-exaggerated wink. I slap his hand and just manage to say 'just eat you idiot' before I'm on the floor laughing as well, he clutches at his heart and then falls back as if he fainted from a broken heart. I start spreading the soft goat cheese on our bread and casually explain 'you're mad you know that?' He just eagerly nods his head and starts stuffing his face with the bread and cheese. I mutter quietly 'Of all the people I chose you to be my hunting partner?' Obviously I don't mean it; it's very hard to find a decent hunting partner I can get along with partly because I'm not the 'social' type but mainly because it's illegal...

I look back up him and... Wait- is he actually hurt by what I said. Seriously?! He knows I am grateful for his company do I really need to explain this to him? ... I guess so. 'Gale?' He looks back up at me as he normally but I see hurt registered in his eyes. 'You know I don't mean what I said?' He just keeps looking at me blankly... I'm not going to get away with just that, am I... Preparing myself for what I'm actually going to say, I accidently let out a deep sigh. I see a smile twinge at his lips, oh he didn't! He just pretended he was upset so I wou-He knows I'm not the best with putting my feelings into words! I hit him on the arm a little hard to show that I know what he did. I blatantly say 'I hate you' and give him a glare. He looks at me a second longer and bursts out into another hysterical fit of laughter. I try to keep my composure but soon enough I'm on the grass smiling with him.

After a little bit we stop laughing and just decide to stay there and stare up at the sky. Out here in the woods, it seemed like life could be simple... with no worries of starvation or the hunger games, life could just be... easy. I think to myself 'Stop it katniss! Don't go of daydreaming of things that will never happen!' I roll over and see that gale is in a trail of thought as well, he looks so peaceful, hmmm.

I jab him in the sides as he would do to me now and then, ahh sweet revenge. Oh his reaction, I wish I could just take a picture with my mind and print it out and remember this memory forever. He let out a small scream (a rather girlish one) and jumped straight quicker than I thought possible which even scared me! I rolled back in another fit of laughter. Now it was his turn to glare, he gave me the full deal, arms crossed, face scrunched up and the evils. How does he think that will stop me laughing? That's hilarious in its' own right! I double over again laugher harder than I thought possible, I just manage to hear him hiss 'evvviilll'. 'Y-your –reaction!' is all I can manage to say in my own fit of laughter.

When I am finally able to compose myself I see he's still sitting there but with a rather smug smile on his dace instead of his previous glare...what happened...'Why do you look so smug all of a sudden MISS Gale Hawthorne?' I smile back at him. 'Nothing' He mumbles still with that ridiculous smile on his face. I look at him for a minute or so trying to stare him down so that he will finally tell me...nothing. 'Fine' I nearly hiss at him, His smile widens even more than I thought humanly possible, what is up with him?

'We'd better get going, don't want to miss our chance to be the 'lucky' tribute for district twelve!' Gale says in a mock excitement. Ha, oh yea the reapings are at 3pm sharp and according to the sun it's getting on to about 2 o'clock. He stands up and offers me his hand, I refuse, still annoyed at what he isn't telling me. He flashes me another smug smile. We walk back to the fence in silence except for the odd bird call and rustling of leaves.

However just as the fence comes into view through the love hanging branches gale leans down towards my ear, 'still annoyed I haven't told you?'. I glare at him, which should be good enough an answer. He gives me and even smugger grin and a small laugh and whispers again 'do you want to know?' I nod my head ever so slowly, 'what's that?'. Oh, he's getting on my nerves! Yes I reply, again 'pardon?' SERIOUSLY?! 'Oh yes please Miss Hawthorne!' I say in an overly sarcastic tone. 'Much better' he replies, he then becomes silent again... what the hell is wrong with this boy? 'Are you going to tell me or not?' 'Oh yea' He leans right down next to my ear and whispers 'nice bum' nice bu-what? I turn around to look at my behind.

Oh, just perfect, my bum has a thin layer of dried mud on it now. I look up at him and glare, why he couldn't have told me earlier? I don't know...Idiot. Then for no reason he slaps my bum –Ouch- and runs out of the forest and under the fence before I have time to think. Amazing, just absolutely fantastic, I know have a muddy bum AND now a rather large hand mark on there as well. After the reapings... he's dead.

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**_AHHH! Woo! I've already got two reviews and two follows for my story...and I uploaded it last night! Ahh you don't know how happy I am. My first fanfiction ever and I have already got this! Haha I love you two people!_**

**_~Ms Fish_**


	3. Why

Chapter 3

Why...

_'Amazing, just absolutely fantastic, I know have a muddy bum AND now a rather large hand mark on there as well. After the reapings... he's dead.'_

Walking towards my home I try to discreetly rub the mud from my bum, however I still get sly smiles and questioning looks while running back towards my home. Why does everyone have to be so nosy!? I finally arrive at my small run-down house; it's not much but its home. I've at least gather another 5 looks so I run straight through our small rusting gate and straight through the door.

I see that prim has just finished eating and is just rising from her seat when she notices me. She runs over to me giggling and gives me a hug asking me if I had eaten, I nod my head. I say how Gale and I ate the bread and how he says 'thank _youuu_' for the cheese which gives me another one of her innocent friendly giggles.

I walk over to my mum who's washing up, 'I brought you some squirrels' is all I say, she nods her head in thanks and says that me and prims bath is ready. I head over to the small bedroom me and my sister share and I see the tub of lukewarm water waiting for us. I strip out of my hunting gear and get into our small tin tub after prim has been in, we never used to take turns but prim is so much bigger and older now, she needs her privacy. The water isn't the nicest temperature, not one that heats you up and makes you feel relaxed, neither is it the brisk cold shower that would wake you up in the morning. This bath is just, a bath. I scrub all the dirt from my body, I wouldn't normally take this much care, but it's the reapings today you must look your best, you won't get sponsors if you look like someone who just came out from hibernation...not that someone would want anyone from district 12 anyway.

I get out of the water as soon at my fingers and toes start to go all wrinkly. My mum, when prim was little used to say they look liked prunes, we could never afford them so I still don't know why my toes of fingers may in the slightest resemble them.

I roughly dry my hair and body and walk over to my bed to see what my mother has laid out for me. She's laid out one of her old dresses, from when she was living with her parents, in the 'merchant area' of district 12. However much I try to distance myself from my mother I still feel... kind of honoured that she is allowing me to wear this, my mother's items from her former life, where she lived in the apothecary are very precious to her. She never talks about her times then, but I do know that once she married my father her parents refused to speak to her and all she took was her prised processions; her dresses, her small mirror and her medicine book.

The dress she laid out for me is light blue which ends just above the knee; it has 3 buttons going down the middle of my chest and small ruffled sleeves that end just under my shoulder. I walk into my mother's room and I see prim is ready; I go over to the mirror to see how the dress looks on me. I hate to admit it but maybe I do look prett- no I'm not 'pretty' I look decent in it.

However my hair is still a mess, I reach over towards my mother's bed to pick up the hair brush. However my mother asks me to sit by nodding her head towards her small rickety chair, reluctantly I agree. I know she is trying but I can't bring myself to forgive her... not after what she did to prim, however after her giving me the dress to wear it's the least I can do.

I sit on my mother's chair, she then moves the mirror so that I cannot see what she's doing until she finished; obviously she's worried I'm going to stop her, with good reason as well. She then retrieves her small hairbrush from where it's been lying on the bed, probably left from when she did prim's hair. Slowly she starts to brush my hair out from its tangled wet mess, taking care not to scrap the brushes against my scalp, unlike myself this morning.

After a while she stops combing my hair, I'm guessing that it doesn't completely resemble a crow's nest now... she starts to take strands of hair and... Well doing something with it, I guess I find out once she has finished. I sit there for what seems like eternity staring at a blank wall, when finally I feel my mother move away after she places one final clip in place. She walks round in front of me and adjusts a few pieces of hair, once she thinks that my hair looks suitable she smiles. Slowly I smile back, however forced my smile may have been it seemed to make my mother happy as she then walks over to retrieve the mirror from wear she hid it. She instructs me to close my eyes, again I do. I hear her place the mirror in front of me, she then nudges me, which I'm guessing means that I should stand. Then she... well nothing, I take this as a meaning I can open my eyes, I slowly open my eyes and... my hair. It's in a braid, but not a simple one going down my back. My hair is full of small and large braids that pull back and join at the centre at the back of my head. The concept is simple but with all the braids entwining with each other and all heading two one point it simply looks...amazing. I can't believe my mother; the one who shut down leaving us behind did...this!

I gape at myself for another minute until prim comes in, 'I wish I was a pretty as you' she says. Oh prim, you don't know how beautiful you really are, on the inside and the outside. I say thank you to my mother and give her a quick hug, which seems to make her smile and then run over to my little sister. I crouch down to her size and say 'oh no, I wish I looked like you little duck' while tucking the loose bit of shirt behind her back which looks oddly like a ducks tail. This gives me one of her small giggles which I love to hear. My mother says that we should start to leave seeing as it is now getting on to 2:45 prim gives me a sad smile, grabs my hand and then we start to exit our small house.

The further we walk toward the justice building the more children we join in our ongoing stream toward someone's doom; everyone prays that it won't be them or their loved ones. As the justice building comes into view prim and I part ways with other. A quick hug and a goodbye and we're joining the queues to 'sign in'. As we approach the desk prim stops in her tracks, 'Prim it's okay don't worry its fine, they'll just take some blood, then you'll go sit with the 12's and we'll see each other after, okay' 'y-you didn't say anything about blood' prim replies in a shaky voice. Poor prim, she always had a fear of blood, blood means pain and she hates to put anyone through physical or emotional pain. 'Its fine, don't worry just a little prick and we'll see each other later' I give her a quick kiss on the head and go into place so I can sign in.

'Name' a peacekeeper asks with a blank expression, 'Katniss Everdeen' I reply with and equally cold expression, she searches up and down her list until she finds my name. She motions for me to give her my hand, reluctantly I complied, what do they expect for us to jump at the chance of being picked? She pricks my finger with a small sterile needle of some sort, presses it down next to my name and motions for the next person in line to come forward. It stings a little, but I've had and seen worse, seeing as my mum works as a 'healer' as no-one in the seam can afford a proper doctor we always receive victims from mining accidents and on rare occasions, public whippings.

I quickly walk down through the separation of girls and boys towards the 16's section. In the reapings it is split up so that on one side of the square is the boys and the other is the girls, it is also split into age. I take a quick look toward the back of the square and see prim walking towards the 12's section, tucking in her little duck tail, she looks so scared. I also scan down to the 18's and I instantly spot gale, seeing as he is one of the tallest. It's his last year, meaning he is down the very front and the 12's are at the very back. We don't know why they have ordered it this way but I'm guessing it because, the older you are the more slips you have so it saves them wasting time when people are walking towards the stage, as we rarely have 12 year olds getting picked. However when they are everyone feels even more hate for the capitol, if that is possible.

As I start to think that gale won't see me staring at him, he turns his head and finds my head amongst my crowd girls. He gives me a sad yet, reassuring smile, saying '_don't worry she only has one slip she'll be fine_', we know each other so well we know what each other are saying just by how we look at each other. I return the smile saying _'so does Rory don't worry about him'_ I change my face to a small frown which I mean to interpret me saying _'but what about you, you have 42 slips'_. He has concerned face on now; he's about to giving me another sort of meaningful look but Effie Trinket-our districts escort-walks onto the stage in ridiculously high heels shortly followed by the mayor and finally our drunken victor, Haymitch, our **only** surviving victor.

Haymitch and the mayor took their seats, while Effie Trinket teetered over to the microphone in the middle of the stage. 'Welcome, _welcome_ to the 74th annual hunger games!' She trills in her over exaggerated capitol accent. 'and may the odds be _ever_ in your favour, now,_ ladies_ first'. She rushes over to a big glass bowl holding all the slips with the '_ladies_' names, she makes a big deal of digging and sweeping her hand around in the bowl until she picks out one of the many small paper slips. As she goes to open the rectangular piece of paper I pray that it won't be prim, 'Madge Undersee!' At first I feel relief wash over me, but then it hits me, Madge!? How could it- its unheard of the _mayor's _**daughter **being chosen in the reapings, I don't think it has ever happened before.

Madge is one of the only friends I have, her and Gale, I turn to look around and as I do I see her walk in front of me, I give her a sad smile which she then returns, but carries on walking proudly towards the stage. The normally shy and timid girl I know has gone and is replaced by a young confident girl walking towards her almost imminent death. She slowly climbs the horrible 'too-clean' steps up onto the stage. I catch a glimpse of her father sitting next to Haymitch, his face is blank but his eyes are worried and distraught. Effie eagerly motions towards Madge and takes her hand, 'Now what a surprise none other than the mayor's daughter maybe we'll get some action this year?' Madge just stares blankly towards the crowd and the crowd back to her. Effie obviously getting nervous due to the 'too-quite' crowd, and nearly shouts 'and now for the boys!' She teeters over to the other side of the stage to the boys bowl, I say a quick pray to gale and even that boy who risked the bread. She quickly sweeps her hand around the bowl, obviously wanting this to end quickly, 'Rory Hawthorne!' I feel relief again as I don't hear gale or bread boys name.

Wait...

No- this isn't fair Rory...Hawthorne? He can't have been chosen he has only ONE slip. The odds should have been in his favour! I sweep my glance towards where a scared and confused boy walks out for the 12's section, and then to gale. I knew before it happened what he was going to do. Gale runs into the path and shouts 'IVOLUNTEER' in a rushed voice, once he's gather his breath he repeats 'I volunteer, I volunteer as tribute'. My heart drops, it was his last year, one more and he would be free, well, free from the hunger games.

I watch Rory as he realises what his brother just did hits him. He starts screaming things like 'No Gale No you can't!' 'Please Gale it was your last year, its fine!' 'Please... Please' He's screaming start to die down and he's just standing there crying. One of Gales friends take Rory back to his mother, Gale nods his head and walks towards the stage. Effie now looks rather shaken up due to the small event, but none the less excited seeing as district 12 has never had a volunteer.

Once he finishes climbing the stairs Effie quickly grabs Gales hand and hauls him towards her. That silly smile she wears never leaving her face, 'Now what your name' She says. 'Gale Hawthorne' Gale curtly says, however our stupid escort doesn't seem affected by it. 'Now I'll bet my hat that was your brother wasn't it?!' Gale just nods and stares towards the crowd. 'We wouldn't want him to steal all the glory for himself now would we?' she titters, at this gale turns to face her and just glares, Now Effie finally gets the message she quickly says 'Wel- Well now shake hands you two, come on' Gale and Madge walk towards each other and slowly shakes hands with each other . They then turn back towards the audience and Effie says 'How about a round of applause for this year's tributes!'No-one claps. I didn't know what I was doing until after I did it, but shakily I lifted 3 of my fingers to my lips and faced them towards the sky. Soon after the whole crowd had done so, this was an old sign of our district one we use to say thank you, and you'll sorely be missed.

Our escort has now turned into a mess of nerves completely baffled to what we are doing instead of clapping. She quickly rounds up Gale and Madge and shows them off the stage and then everything is quite. The realisation hits me, I'll never see them again, and if I do, it'll only be one of them.

**DUM DUM DUMM!**

**I'm back! Sorry I sorta disappeared but I went on holiday , Lucky me!**

**Please review, I update quicker this time, also what do you think of me adding in a Madge or Gale pov for the journey on the train?**


	4. Goodbyes

**I think I'll just do this chapter as the goodbyes from katniss' view so yes it'll be a rather short chapter next chapter ill do it from gales and the train journey ENJOY!**

Chapter 4

Goodbyes

_'The realisation hits me, I'll never see them again, and if I do, it'll only be one of the' _

As soon as we are allowed to go, I sprint straight back home to search for it. Tributes are allowed 10 minutes to recover before family and friends are allowed to say they're goodbyes. This is time I use to my advantage, Tributes are also allowed to take a token of remembrance, and this is what I am searching for. Madge probably has one already from her father or mother, but Gale might not, even so I want him to have something from me before he goes. What I am searching for is a small badge sized piece of wood carved into a bow and arrow, I was planning on giving it to him for his 19th birthday, but I guess this is as good a time as any.

I quickly loop a thin piece of leather through it and run back towards the justice building, first ill go see Madge I think as gale will want to see his mother and siblings first.

I don't even bother knocking; I walk straight into the room to see Madge and her mother and father. Her mother is rarely ever out of bed, let alone house. Her mother suffers from some sort of illness that leaves her in constant pain. Madge parents turn from hugging they're child to see that I have walked in, Madge peeps out her pink, tear stained eyes and sees me. Her parents let go of her and leave the room seeing me and Madge just want to talk however I'm sure they'll come back in after I have left. I run over to her and embrace her; I can see that she is trying her best not to completely break down. I turn her face so I can look into her eyes, 'Madge don't worry Gale will protect you, he can gather food and protect you' I say confidently yet gently. She timidly shakes her head barely managing to say, 'he won't, he hates me'. 'No no no, he doesn't he hates where you born into, not you yourself', Gale despises the merchant children for being better off than seam kids and not even trying to help out the poorer of the district. 'He will protect you I promise, I'll make sure of it' We both know only one can win, but we keep that to ourselves, no point darkening the mood even further. Madge just nods her head and says a small 'okay', 'Anyway' I say 'You have a lot more meat and strength than some of the other districts, you already have a head start' I say mater of factly trying to lighten the mood and give Madge whatever hope I can. For a while we just talk about silly things like 'how prim and her goat is' and that 'the strawberries will be going out of season soon and how her father loves them so much and will be devastated'. But after a while her parents knock on the door asking to come in, I give Madge a kiss on the forehead and promise her she will be fine and leave to go see gale.

I still have 15 minutes left till the time for visitors is up, I quickly find out which room Gale is being held in and run into the room not caring to knock on the door this time either. Gale is sitting on a red sofa near the back, his family has only just left, I saw them on the way out from seeing Madge. Gale looks up quickly to the disturbance in the room, his eyes meet mine, they're glassy but he hasn't been crying, trying to keep strong for himself but more his family. We stand there for a minute until he runs over to me and squeezes me in a tight embrace, him stroking my hair and I whispering words like 'you and Madge will be fine' 'I'll see you later' and so forth. Once we stop hugging I ask him to 'please look after Madge' he nods his head solemnly saying of course, he knows how much she means to me. I tell him I will hunt and keep his family stocked up with food and help them in any way possible, he says a grateful thank you and hugs me again. I never want to let him go; I breathe in his earthy typically seam sent and just hug him back, trying not to break my normally hard exterior. Although soon It will break.

After another 5 minutes everything crumbles, I don't care about seeming strong anymore, I know I should, I'm being selfish, he's the one going to fight to the death not me. I try my best to make my body not rack with sobs and try to keep my sniffles silent. But obviously as he is gale he notices, he brings me over to the small sofa and sits with me holding my hand and brushing away my tears. 'I'm fine Catnip-Oh I hate that nickname- soon I'll be back in the woods with you hunting and everything will be back to normal' he says and a 'too-calm' voice. Through my silent sobs I manage to say 'I-I'm sorry, I said you'd be dead, I said it after you left me in the woods with a muddy bum, I said it, I said after the reapings you'd be dead. I didn't- I didn't mean it, I don't want y-you to die, please d-don't leave me' I grab onto him in a desperate hug, I didn't literally mean it to happen, I jinxed it, I made this happen, just because of my silly words, the capitol heard me, I'm sure of it. Gale exhales deeply with a sad chuckle 'of course you didn't Kat it was just bad luck that's all, you didn't do it, this' he waves his around in the air 'is not your fault, it's the capitols and they're stupid Idea of entertainment'.

'Gale, shhh' I hiss 'They could be listening right now, they would make your life hell if they heard you say that, but I agree it is, b-but what if they heard what I said, and then they just used it as a sick idea to break someone else heart, what if, what if they were listening to me, what if they know what we do on Sundays, what if...' I can't even finish my sentence, the idea of the capitol listening and knowing that we go hunting is absurd, but maybe, maybe they would give us the hope that they didn't know and that we had gotten away with it and then on our final year they would do this, showing that no-one could get away. Gale gives another sad chuckle 'they've already promised to do that to me and anyone else who's name was picked this year' I give him sad smile, he trying to lighten the mood not for himself but for me, and I love him for it 'true' I reply sadly.

I then remember the token I wanted him to take 'Gale' I ask in my shaky voice, ugh, I can't believe I'm acting so weak. 'Hmmm' he replies like we're just in the woods and no of this ever happened. I slowly pull out the bow and arrow wood necklace from my pocket, 'I-I don't know if you already have something, but if you want you c-could use this as your token, its urm, nothing much, I was going to save it for your birthday but, I' before I could finish the sentence he snatches it from my hand and say 'Of course, it's perfect and I don't have anything to use as a token, thank you Catnip I couldn't have asked for anything better'. Even when I know I probably won't see gale again I blush at the words that give me a slightly warm feeling inside, I murmur my thanks just as the peacekeeper come in to say I need to leave, now.

Gale grips me close and before I know what's happening he's kissing me and surprisingly I'm kissing him back, there goes my first kiss I think. But to be honest and don't think who else I would've wanted to steal one of the few things I own away from him, the kiss stirs the same warm feeling I felt when he said his thanks to me and I can feel my face starting to burn red. When he pulls away he gives me a cheesy grin.

That is until he realises I'm starting to be pulled away by the peacekeepers, he shouts 'I'll see you later then Kat, don't worry I'll be fine' he says trying to keep the conversation from going gloomy again, he pauses and then says 'I love you' so quickly I thought I hadn't even heard him say it, I don't have time to think if I truly do love gale and go into my feelings, they're to jumbled up to make sense. But this may be the last time I see him, and if I do love this may be my last chance to say so 'I love you too Gale!' I shout back before I'm forced out of the room. Just as the doors close I see gales else fill with happiness and a true smile form on his lips, like one you would see of a small child on Christmas day, even though his death may be imminent he still found joy from those 3 little words I said.

I then feel a small pang of guilt, what if I lied and I don't love him, no, I do love him, but in what way I don't know.

**Ohhhh, quicker update hey hey, I hope you feel proud ;3**

**So what do you think? Please review I know there are at least 2 people who read this and don't review, so guys here's the deal guys, if I get a review from someone other than firepearl97 and canadianboy98 (which I love btw, as you two have reviewed every chapter *muah*3) I shall update within the next 2 days! What do you think? Can you manage that ;)**


	5. Firsts and Lasts

**This is going to be JUST Gales view on the visitors sorry sorry sorry, I'm REALLLY busy and I had no great ideas for the train, but I'll make it up to you c; next chapter Peeta makes his move...DUM DUM DUMMM**

Chapter 5

Firsts and Lasts

As I walk though the musty 'too-nice-for-12' corridors of the justice building, I don't feel scared, petrified or even slightly worried about going into the hunger games. I did it to save Rory and I would do it again. But what I am feeling is guilt and regret, not for what I've done but for what I haven't and can't do anymore.

What will my family do? I am the one who produces and provides to food that sits in our belly, yes, my mother does have that small laundry job thing she does, but that won't sustain them for long. My hunting is what guarantees food on the table, and even then I sometimes have to go hungry to ensure my family can eat. What will they do when I can no longer provide for them? I may be gone for a short time, but that is unlikely... Of course katniss will try and help, we made a pack a while ago, that if one of us gets picked we will help provide for the others family, but that would still be a burden; the job is much harder when you're doing it by yourself. Since having katniss as my hunting partner, it lightens the load, not just physically but mentally, it's nice to have a companion.

Also, what of Katniss, her two best friends, her only friends, are going into the hunger games and she'll most likely never see us again. She has to choose, who does she want to come out? Me or Madge. I think she would say me, well, I hope and what of all the things I haven't done.

I guess, I guess you could say I love her, I haven't even told her I have crush or kissed her let alone that I _Love_ her. I know how she feels about that kind of stuff so I never mentioned it, she _never_ wants to get married nor have kids, not in this Panem anyway. I wonder if we weren't here maybe Katniss and I could be together, guess I'll never find out now. She'll surely come say goodbye to me maybe I'll tell her th-

My train of thought was interrupted by being rudely shoved into and old dusty 'very red' room. I have around 10 minutes till I get to say my final goodbyes, who will come I wonder, My family, Katniss, maybe Madge's parents beseeching me to help their daughter-maybe if I do they'll help feed my family, I must remember that. But would anyone else come? Maybe a friend from school, but that's it.

I go sit on a red velvet sofa by the window on the far side of the room; they can afford this but not to feed the people in their own district? Ugh I hate it, I hate everyone, the 'too-good-for-seam-kids' town folk, the stupidly low paid wages, the child-murdering blood-spilling Hunger Games, but most of all the idiotic capitol, who know nothing of what goes on outside of their perfect little world where they all look like freaks.

I sit by the window for god knows how long thinking unthinkable thoughts about the capitol when a peacekeeper opens the door and says that my first set of visitors is here; guess I was there for ten minutes. Once the stark white 'peace' keeper (funny how can they even call themselves that? Keeping the peace? Disturbing the peace more like) moves aside Rory comes in with puffy eyes and tears stains and runs toward me and hugging me with such force I nearly fall backwards. I start rubbing his back saying things like, 'don't worry I'll be fine I can hunt remember' 'don't worry Kat will make sure your ok' It nearly breaks me when he's like this worrying over me when he should be happy that he isn't going in himself. Through the tufts of his brown hair I see my mother, Posy and Vick enter the room, they keep their distance, I'm guessing so that me and Rory can talk as that he will now be the man of the house. After a few more minutes of sobbing and comforting words Rory's curing seems to stop, I pull back so I can look him in the eyes and say 'now Rory, you're the man of the house until I get back, go hunting with Kat and improve you bow skills and help her carry the food back an listen to everything she says out there' he nods his house and is about to say somthing before I cut him of saying 'No buts, don't worry I'll be back soon and then we'll have all the food we need okay?' he nods again and this time the rest of my family joins the hug

. Once the big family hug is finished mum asks the kids if they can go outside, once the door closes behind our posy carrying Rory my mum says in a worried voice 'Don't worry I still have the money from my laundry jobs and I'll probably get sympathy from other families so that should help and Katniss will try as well, I'll see I can take advantage of the sympathy and see if I can do anyone else's washing' I'm about to start on if I don't come back but my mum seems to know what I'm thinking and says 'Gale you will come back, you have _Real _life experience, you're a hunter those district 1 tributes only have simulation training, you can beat them, your tall and strong and your good with a bow, but if you don't come back don't worry don't feel any guilt we'll be fine, but you are coming back because you're a fighter' I just nod, wary that if I say anything my hard exterior would crack, 'Sorry I didn't bring you a token but Sarah Everdeen told me katniss has ran home to get you something, I hope you don't mind' 'Its fine, thank you mum see you soon' I croak out when the peacekeeper says I need to see my next set of visitors.

To my surprise it's that baker's boy, the one whose katniss' age what the hell is he doing here? I don't think I ever talk to him unless I'm his father's busy and I have to sell him the squirrels. 'Uh, hey, Gale, yea I know you don't know me but I'm in katniss' class, I just came to say I'll keep your family fed, for katniss' you know, she got too much going on' he stutters. What the hell is he playing at? I didn't know they talked... I thought it was just me and Madge for Kat but he's helping my family either way so I respect which is hard considering he's a 'townie'. 'Uh, yea thanks, umm not to be rude but anything else?' I say 'No that's it, well good luck hope you come back, for Katniss anyway' and he leaves on those words.

Okay, what's he on about? Why's he doing this for me 'just for Katniss' I didn't even know she talking to him, except for when we trade our squirrels, do they know each other? Are the friends? Are the _more_? When did this happen!?

There's then a knock at the door and I see that it's the Mayor, guess he did come to see if I could help Madge. Before he can ask I say 'don't worry I'll protect her as much as I can'. He face flushes with relief 'Thank you Gale, Don't worry I'll make sure that your family will always have enough food, even if you don't come back' Wow, I might change my opinion on these townies, they seem rather nice today, 'uh-wow- urm thank you, s-sir' I stutter, I can't believe what he's offering, so if I don't make it back I don't have to worry about my family being fed as long as he's still on his feet. He nods his head and leaves. Another short visit, I hope katniss will come soon; there are only 20 more minutes of allotted time for visitors.

As I think those words Katniss strides into the room, not even bothering to knock and straight over to me where she embraces me for what seems like forever but yet again to short a time, I look back up at the, damn we were just standing like that for 5 minutes, time fly's when I'm with her. She then starts talking about how she'll do everything she can to protect my family and keep them fed, but I can hardly concentrate and I'm just watching her lips thinking, I'll never know what they feel against mine now, nor will she ever know how I feel about her. Finally she finishes her little speech about how she will protect my family as much as possible, 'Thank you' I mumble back, Knowing that she wouldn't change her mind and arguing would ruin are goodbye and waste our breath.

'I'm Sorry' Katniss mumbles nearly inaudibly, why is she sorry? It's not her fault, it's the capitols. 'Please don't feel sorry Catnip' I say taking her face in my hands and staring into her eyes 'It's not your fault, It's the capitols' I say in a low voice dripping with hatred. Straight away I get a loud 'SHHHH' from Kat and a small rant about how they could be listening. I just chuckle when she's finished, and she shakes her head slightly.

She then reaches down into her pocket and takes a small wooden object and places it my hand, I guess mum was right about katniss getting a token for me, she tells me that it was going to be for my birthday and that it's not finished and is about to say that it isn't that good when I cut her of 'Thank you, it's beautiful' I say.

I see that I only have a few minutes left with katniss before I may never see her again, Before I completely know what I'm doing I reach forward and kiss her. I expect for her to shove me back straight away, but instead she just stays there, and furthermore she then starts to kiss me back! I feel like I'm on fire, pure electricity running through my veins from my fingers down to my toes. I never dreamed in all of eternity that I would actually get to do this to katniss outside my daydreams. However here am with a death sentence waiting to be signed hovering above my head _but_ kissing Katniss Everdeen, the one who is oblivious to all the ogling seam boys, the one who is opposed to marriage and children due to the world we live in, the huntress who shot an arrow straight through my heart the day with first met, the one I am in love with. I don't know how long we are there, my mind lost track of time as soon as my lips touched hers but feels not long enough when Kat finally pulls away.

I'm stuck there with a massive grin on my face until I realise Katniss and I are being pulled apart by peacekeepers. My smile vanishes and before she is at the door I muster up enough courage to shout 'I LOVE YOU!' I don't expect her to say it back, Katniss holding my hand would be an amazing feat and he kissing me was a miracle; now Katniss telling me she loved me would be a margin away from impossible. But instead of 'Bye gale' I do hear the words 'I LOVE YOU TOO GALE' just as the doors are slamming shut.

Wait-What? Katniss, Everdeen... just told me she loved me? Am I hearing things? Wait rewind... I see Katniss' lips from the words and then shout 'I LOVE YOU TOO GALE' and only a millisecond after the doors slam behind her. I will now try to come back not just for my family but for Katniss, but if I don't succeed at least by knowing this I can die a happy man...


	6. Author's Notes

**Hello, sorry to any one who even bothers to read this.**

**But this is not a chapter...**

**so any-who i am writing to say that i shall not be continuing this story, i absolutely hate it :L**

**sorry...check out my other stories instead?**

**Love you, bye**


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